Shade marker

ABSTRACT

The disclosure is directed to an apparatus for marking on planar material, selected indicia associated with the shade of the material passing therethrough. The apparatus comprises a housing and a printer assembly having two parallel circular end plates positioned opposite one another movably disposed on two parallel opposite walls of the housing. The plates are each fixed at their centers of rotation to either end of a central slightly flexible torsion shaft. Three parallel rollers are rotatably mounted between the plates. The rollers are preferably equally spaced from one another and to the central shaft to form, in cross section, an equilateral triangle. Spaced along the rollers and parallel to the end plates are idler plates for engaging the moving material to rotatably drive the printer assembly. The idler plates contain central apertures larger in diameter than the torsion shaft so that the assembly may flex during operation. A plurality of pairs of raised indicia carrying belts are mounted about the rollers on sprockets disposed on the rollers, so that one of each of the pairs of belts frictionally engages one such roller and the other of each of the pairs of belts frictionally engages another of the rollers. Each of these two belt engaging rollers can be independently turned to position selected raised indicia on each of the belts at the apexes of the equilateral triangles formed by the rollers. An inker inks the selected raised indicia. As material moves through the housing, it rotates the idler plates and hence the assembly so that the printer assembly marks the material by contacting the material passing thereunder with the inked selected raised indicia of the belts positioned at the apexes of the triangles.

United States Patent [191 Powell et al.

[451 Sept. 2, 1975 SHADE MARKER [75] Inventors: James Douglas Powell; William Charles Powell, both of San Ysidro, N. Mex.

[73] Assignee: Powell Shademarker Company,

Albuquerque, N. Mex.

[22] Filed: Sept. 27, 1973 [21] Appl. No.: 401,136

Primary ExaminerEdgar S. Burr Assistant Examiner-Edward M. Coven Attorney, Agent, or FirmRobert W. Weig 57 ABSTRACT The disclosure is directed to an apparatus for marking on planar material, selected indicia associated with the shade of the material passing therethrough. The apparatus comprises a housing and a printer assembly having two parallel circular end plates positioned opposite one another movably disposed on two parallel opposite walls of the housing. The plates are each fixed at their centers of rotation to either end of a central slightly flexible torsion shaft. Three parallel rollers are rotatably mounted between the plates. The rollers are preferably equally spaced from one another and to the central shaft to form, in cross section, an equilateral triangle. Spaced along the rollers and parallel to the end plates are idler plates for engaging the moving material to rotatably drive the printer assembly. The idler plates contain central apertures larger in diameter than the torsion shaft so that the assembly may flex during operation. A plurality of pairs of raised indicia carrying belts are mounted about the rollers on sprockets disposed on the rollers, so that one of each of the pairs of belts frictionally engages one such roller and the other of each of the pairs of belts frictionally engages another of the rollers. Each of these two belt engaging rollers can be independently turned to position selected raised indicia on each of the belts at the apexes of the equilateral triangles formed by the rollers. An inker inks the selected raised indicia. As material moves through the housing, it rotates the idler plates and hence the assembly so that the printer assembly marks the material by contacting the material passing thereunder with the inked selected raised indicia of the belts positioned at the apexes of the triangles.

13 Claims, 4 Drawing Figures PATENTEDSEP' 21575 38029413 sum 2 mg g;

PATENTEU 21975 sum 3 BF 9.

SHADE MARKER FIELD OF THE INVENTION The invention relates to shade markers and more particularly to an apparatus for marking planar material with selected indicia associated with the shade of the material moving therethrough.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION In the clothing industry, planar material from the same or different bolts, or other sources, should be marked with indicia associated with its shade in order to provide a garment having well matched component parts. Frequently, many component parts for garments are simultaneously cut from many layers of material. Generally, the shade of each such layer may vary from those of other layers. Therefore, pieces cut from the same layers must be somehow identifiable so that each of the garments to be constructed is made from component parts cut from the same layer, bolt, or other substantially uniformly shaded piece of material.

Heretofore, material was shade marked by hand in most clothing manufacturing concerns, although several machines have been designed to handle the task. Since machines are not customarily used, the present state of the art devices apparently have one drawback or another. For example, some stretch the material; others are difficult or impossible to adjust for varying thicknesses, colors, compressabilities and types of material; yet others are difficult to operate and, perhaps, expensive to buy and to operate. Still others are unreliable, requiring a large amount of maintenance and attention in order to keep them in working order.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In accordance with the invention, there is provided an apparatus for marking, on planar material passing therethrough, selected indicia associated with the characteristic, such as the shade, of the material passing therethrough.

The apparatus comprises a plurality of raised indicia carrying belts on a printing assembly for marking the material, an inking device for applying ink to selected raised indicia on the belts, and a structure providing contact between the selected inked raised indicia on the belt and the material to be marked. A housing, a mechanism for moving the material through the housing and a supporting surface for the material being marked are preferably utilized. In a preferred embodiment, the belts are carried on a printer assembly comprising a plurality of three rollers spaced to form, in cross section, an equilateral triangle with selected raised indicia on the belts being disposable on the outer sides of the apexes thereof. The rollers are rotatably mounted at either end to essentially parallel rotatable end plates movably disposed on the housing. Idler plates are spaced along the shaft to provide predetermined spaced contact between the material being marked and the belts and to impart the materials movement to rotate the printing assembly, thereby marking the material. Also in the preferred embodiment, pairs of belts are spaced along the assembly to provide two unit indicia, with each one of the belts in a pair being independently positionable from the other and corresponding ones of the belts in the pairs being simultaneously positionable to provide ease of indicia selection.

One object of the present invention is to provide automatic marking of planar material.

Another object of the invention is to provide fast, reliable, economical and accurate marking of planar material.

Still another object of the present invention is to provide rapid and simple indicia changing capability during a marking operation.

One advantage of the present invention is that in accordance therewith, automatic marking of planar material is attainable.

Another advantage of the invention is that the practice thereof provides fast, economical and efficient marking of planar material.

Yet another advantage of the present invention is that in accordance therewith, the indicia selected to be marked can be quickly and easily changed.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Other objects and advantages of the present invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art from the following description, with reference to the appended drawings, wherein like numbers denote like parts and wherein:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the printing assembly and inking rollers of a preferred embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 2 is a top view of the printer assembly and inking rollers of the FIG. 1 embodiment;

FIG. 3 is a side view of the preferred embodiment of the invention; and

FIG. 4 is a cutaway of the side view of FIG. 3.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF A PREFERRED EMBODIMENT OF THE INVENTION Reference is now made to FIGS. 1 and 2 which show perspective and top views, respectively, of a preferred embodiment of a printer assembly and inking rollers in accordance with the invention. The printer assembly 10 comprises first and second, preferably circular, end plates 12 and 14, respectively. End plate 14 is not shown in FIG. 2 which shows only a representative part of the assembly 10, for the sake of clarity. End plates 12 and 14 are parallel to one another and face one an other. Fixedly spacing plates '12 and 14 so that they rotate together is slightly flexible central torsion shaft 16 at either end of which end plates 12 and 14 are fixed by a suitable fastening device such as a stud or bolt 18 (see in FIG. 3). Central shaft 16 and bolt 18 are not shown in FIG. 2.

Preferably equally spaced from central shaft 16 and from each other, so as to form an equilateral triangle in cross section, are tens unit roller 20, ones unit roller 22 and idler roller 24, all rotatably mounted at end plates 12 and 14, such as in bearings 26, 28 and 30, respectively. Spaced at intervals along the printer assembly are circular idler plates 32 having concave peripheries 34 into which relatively high coefficient of friction bands, such as rubber O-rings or tires 36, are frictionally engaged and mounted. As seen in FIG. 1, idler plates 32 comprise central apertures preferably l/8 inch 3/8 inch or more larger in radii than flexible central torsion shaft 16. Rollers 20, 22 and 24 are somewhat flexible and are free to flex, move relative to, and rotate within the apertures in idler plates 32. The central apertures being somewhat larger than the central shaft is an important aspect of the invention and allows the assembly to flex relative to and twist about central shaft 16 a small amount from stress placed on the assembly, in accordance with the invention.

A plurality of belt appliances 38 are spaced along central shaft 16, preferably alternating with idler plates 32 thereon. Each of the belt appliances 38 preferably comprises a tens unit belt 40 and a ones unit belt 42. Each belt 40 and 42 carries a plurality of raised indicia 44 in columnar form thereon. In the preferred embodiment, the indicia happen to be numeric, numbering through 9, but it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that alphabetical or numeric English, Greek, Hebrew, Japanese, Russian, or any other suitable symbols may be used. Because numerals are used herein, two belts are shown, although any suitable number of belts may be used in accordance with the invention. For most purposes, which typically involve marking fewer than 100 layers of material, two belts appear to provide ample indicia selection.

It is desirable to have the same selected indicia at each of the apexes 46 of an equilateral triangle formed by the rollers 20, 22 and 24. Hence, the belts 40 and 42 of the preferred embodiment have three identical series of equally spaced raised indicia disposed on the outer periphery of each of the belts so as to provide such an arrangement. Thus, selected indicia such as Os, ls, 2s, etc., appear at each apex 46 for each of the belts 40 and 42. Obviously, different indicia may be se lected for the tens and the ones unit belts. For example, tens unit belts 40 may be set for 4s and ones unit belts 42 may be set for 7s to provide 47s positioned at each apex 46.

Each tens unit belt 40 is mounted about tens unit roller 20, on a tens unit pinned sprocket 50, and about rollers 22 and 24 on rotatable sprockets 48. Each ones unit belt 42 is mounted about ones unit roller 22 on a ones unit pinned sprocket 52 and about rollers 20 and 24 with rotatable sprockets 54. A settable tens unit indexer 60 and a settable ones unit indexer 62 are fixed at plate 14 to tens unit roller 20 and ones unit roller 22, respectively, to provide for selection of raised indicia for printing. Thus, if tens unit indexer 60 is used to turn tens unit roller 20 to a selected position, because sprockets 50 are pinned to roller 20, sprockets 50 turn therewith to index a selected raised indicia on every tens unit belt 40 onto the apexes 46. Similarly, if ones unit indexer 62 is used to turn ones unit roller 22, because sprockets 52 are pinned to roller 22, sprockets 52 turn therewith to index a selected raised indicia on every ones unit belt 42 onto the apexes 46.

As shown, sprockets 48, 50, 52 and 54 are preferably toothed, as are belts 40 and 42 for non-slip engagement therebetween. It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that suitable untoothed sprockets and belts may also be used, if slippage therebetween is sufficiently minor.

Printing pressure between the selected raised indicia and the material can be controlled by the depth and width of concave periphery 34, the size and compressability of O-rings 36 and by the weight of printing assembly 10. Different printing pressures are used with different materials, printing rates and inks. The resilience or sponginess of the material to be marked should be measured with a durometer. The thickness of the material to be marked should also be measured.

For a ten character belt (3 sets of characters) a in inches is the effective printing radius, defined as the sum of the radius of a sprocket (48, 50, 52 or 54), plus belt (40 or 42) width, plus raised indicia (44) height. In accordance with the invention, for good printing results, for durometer readings of less than 10, a( l-cos 36) should be on the order of 0.035 inch. For durometer readings of more than 10, a( l-cos 36) should be on the order of 0.020 inch. If this rule is followed, the selected indicia will print clearly without overlap printing of adjacent off-apex raised indicia, excess ink sloppiness or faintness.

Sprockets 48 and 54 are freely rotatable on the rollers on which they reside so that the belts 40 and 42 may be freely turned with indexers 60 and 62. indexers 60 and 62 preferably comprise a conventional sprocket or other settable arrangement so that when selected raised indicia are positioned on apexes 46, the belts will not move. indexers 60 and 62 may be provided at each of the end plates 12 and 14 for convenience of operation.

In the preferred embodiment, belts 40 and 42 form an equilateral triangle, but those skilled in the art will be able to devise two shaft and four or more shaft arrangements which are within the scope of the invention. For any such arrangement, one need only choose the spacings desired between markings to be made on the material, decide on how many rollers are to be used, space them accordingly, and practice the invention.

Two sets of 3 rollers may also be used, with the two sets being 60 out of phase with one another to provide staggered, more closely spaced printing of indicia.

As seen in FIGS. 1 and 2, ink is applied to the selected indicia positioned on the apexes 46 from inking portions 64 of ink carrying tube 66. The O-rings 36 of idler plates 32 tangentially engage tube 66 to provide proper spacing between belts 40 and 42 and tube 66 so that only the selected raised indicia at apexes 46 are inked. Preferably, no other raised indicia or portions of belts 40 and 42 contact roller 66.

The printer assembly 10 is rested on a housing 70, the end view and the cutaway end view of which are illustrated in FIGS. 3 and 4, respectively. In the preferred embodiment, end plates 12 and 14 of printer assembly 10 loosely and rotatably rest in lift rings 72. Printer assembly 10 is liftable from housing 70 with a handle 74 fixedly secured, such as by a bolt 78, to a torque pin extending from a tab 76 on ring 72. For ease of operation, printer assembly 10 is usually lifted from housing 70 when planar material to be marked is loaded into the apparatus. A planar material to be marked 82, which is preferably flexible for use in the preferred embodiment, although a rigid material can be handled in accordance with the invention, may comprise any fabric, cloth, plastic, leather or other suitable material from which clothing or anything else may be fashioned. Material 82 passes over feed roller 84 rotatably secured to housing 70 with roller studs 86, and over material positioning roller 88 rotatably attached to housing 70 with roller studs 90. Depending on the direction from which one desires to extract material 82 from housing 70, either of guide rollers 92 or 94, rotatably mounted on housing 70 by roller studs 96 or 98, respectively, may be used.

It is preferable that portions 64 do not ink the raised indicia on one apex of a belt when the selected indicia on another apex are printing. Thus, ink carrying tube 66 and a material positioning roller 88 should preferably not be at 120 from one another with respect to central shaft 16.

Alignment bars 100 are secured to opposing preferably parallel walls of housing 70 to provide a stable rigid box-like structure in which all the rollers freely may turn and in which the printer assembly may float.

In the preferred embodiment, ink is applied to the selected raised indicia on the belts 40 and 42 with an inker designated Lab ID. No. 3859P57, product code 3456, produced by PORLON, Inc., a Division of the Johnson Wax Company. However, as will be apparent to those skilled in the art, other inkers may be used.

Ink is applied to inking portion 64 of ink carrying tube 66 rotatably positioned within housing 70 on freely rotatable secondary inker bearings l04and 106 attached to opposite walls of housing 70 with studs 108 and 110, respectively. Ink carrying tube 66 is inked from a primary inker release roller 112 carrying inking bands 118 to which the application of ink is controlled with ink adjustment screws 1 l4. Roller 112 is rotatably attached to housing 70 by studs 116.

In operation, material to be marked 82 is fed under feed roller 84, over material positioning roller 88, over either of guide rollers 92 or 94, and out of the machine.

The material 82 may bepulled manually or automatically-through the apparatus of the invention by means well known in the art. No such means are shown for purposes of clarity. As the material passes over roller 88, it causes roller 88 to rotate. Because tires or O-rings 36 on circular idler plates 32 frictionally engage material 82, printer assembly rotates as a unit. Because printer assembly 10 is not mounted, it floats" on material 82, and flexes to conform thereto to print completely across the width of the assembly. Raised indicia on belts and 42 selected by an operator or automatically, with unit indexers 60 and 62, are positioned at apexes 46. Apex positioned selected raised indicia engage inking portions 64 of ink carrying tube 66 which is inked as it turns by inking bands 118 on primary inker roller 112. Ink passing through ink adjustment acrews 114 constantly inks roller 112. As printer assembly 10 rotates, the freshly inked selected indicia contact material 82 as it passes over roller 88 which provides a firm surface upon which overlaying material 82 can be clearly stamped with inked selected raised indicia.

It is important that printing assembly 10 freely float, engaging material 82 so as not to stretch it. Assembly 10 may be loosely retained along its longitudinal axis, but it prints best when not rotatably mounted on a housing. It should rest on the material, and be rotated by the motion of the moving material so as to essentially freely float on and flex with the moving material.

The number of idler plates 32 and belt appliances 38 used will be a matter of choice to those skilled in the art and will depend on the width of material to be marked and the spacing between markings desired.

The ink used is preferably applied to the back" side of the material marked and may be visible or invisible so as to be viewable only under ultraviolet or infrared light.

As the shade of the material passing through the shade marker of the invention varies, an operator may manually change the settings of indexers 60 and 62. A]- ternatively, the settings may be automatically changed in accordance with the amount of material passed through the apparatus or in response to the output from an optical monitor such as a densitometer.

The various features and advantages of the invention are thought to be clear from the foregoing description. However, various other features and advantages not specifically enumerated will undoubtedly occur to those versed in the art, as likewise will many variations and modifications of the embodiments illustrated herein, all of which maybe achieved without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. An apparatus for marking on planar material, indicia associated with the material, said apparatus comprising:

means for moving said material through said apparatus;

means comprising a surface for providing support for a portion of said material to be marked;

twistable and flexible rotating means for marking said material with indicia, said rotating means comprising:

a first plurality of spaced substantially parallel rollers;

first rotatable plate means at one end of said rollers for supporting said rollers relative to one another;

second rotatable plate means at the other end of said rollers for supporting said rollers relative to one another;

at least one idler plate disposed on said plurality of rollers, said plate defining a central aperture of preselected cross section;

a central twistable and flexible torsion shaft operably connected at either end to said first and second rotatable plate means, said shaft being smaller in cross section at least in the vicinity of any said idler plate to be spaced therefrom so that said rotating means will be able to twist and flex; and

at least one raised indicia carrying belt disposed about said plurality of rollers;

means associated with each such belt for indexing said belt to position selected raised indicia thereon for marking;

means for inking said selected raised indicia; and

means cooperating with said moving material for rotating said rotating means to provide contact between said selected raised indicia and material where supported by said supporting means to mark said indicia on said material.

2. The invention of claim 1 wherein said plurality of rollers comprises three rollers forming an equilateral triangle in cross section, each of said belts being disposed with the same raised indicia positionable over each apex formed by the rollers.

3. The invention of claim 2 wherein said belts comprise two sets of independently positionable belts.

4. The invention of claim 1 further comprising means for controlling the force with which the selected raised indicia contact said material.

5. An apparatus for marking indicia associated with the shade of material passing therethrough, said apparatus comprising:

a housing comprising two spaced side walls;

printing means rotatably positioned in operable relation to said housing comprising:

an end plate fixedly disposed at each end of a slightly flexible and twistable torsion shaft so that said plates are essentially parallel to and spaced opposite to one another;

a plurality of slightly flexible independently rotatable cylinders rotatably mounted at each end onto each of said end plates, parallel to said torsion shaft and spaced equal distances from said shaft and from one another to form an equilateral geometrical figure in cross section;

at least one raised indicia carrying belt disposed about said plurality of cylinders, said belt having raised indicia on the outer periphery thereof;

means frictionally engaging every such belt with at least one of said cylinders; and

means for rotating at least said one cylinder to position at least one selected raised indicia on said belt at an apex of said geometrical figure;

means for inking said selected raised indicia; means for moving said material through said housing;

and means frictionally engaging said material for rotatably driving said printing means and for bringing said inked raised indicia into contact with said material moving through said housing to print indicia thereon associated with the shade thereof. 6. The invention of claim wherein there are a plurality of said belts.

7. The invention of claim 6 wherein there are three parallel cylinders spaced to form a substantially equilateral triangle in cross section and said selected raised 8 indicia are positionable atthe three apcxes thereof.

8. The invention of claim 7 wherein said plurality of belts comprises several pairs comprising a first belt and a second belt. said pairs spaced at predetermined intervals between said end plates.

9. The invention of claim 8 wherein said cylinder rotating means comprises means for rotating one of said cylinders for simultaneously moving said first belts and means independently operable, from said one cylinder rotating means for rotating a second one of said cylinders to simultaneously move said second belts to position said selected raised indicia at said apexes.

10. The invention of'claim 5 wherein said means for frictionally engaging said material comprises a plurality of idler plates spaced along said torsion shaft a't predetermined intervals thereon.

11. The invention of claim 10 wherein every one of said idler plates comprises a central aperture through ,which said central shaft passes, said aperture being from about l/8 inch to about 3/8 inch larger in radius than said shaft so that said printer means can somewhat twist about and flex about said central torsion shaft.

12. The invention of claim 11 wherein said idler plates have replaceable rings of high coefficient of frietion resilient material disposed about their peripheries. 13. The invention of claim 12 wherein said means for frictionally engaging said material is adjustable to accommodate planar materials of different thicknesses and compressibilities by'using replaceable rings of preselected thicknesses in accordance therewith. 

1. An apparatus for marking on planar material, indicia associated with the material, said apparatus comprising: means for moving said material through said apparatus; means comprising a surface for providing support for a portion of said material to be marked; twistable and flexible rotating means for marking said material with indicia, said rotating means comprising: a first plurality of spaced substantially parallel rollers; first rotatable plate means at one end of said rollers for supporting said rollers relative to one another; second rotatable plate means at the other end of said rollers for supporting said rollers relative to one another; at least one idler plate disposed on said plurality of rollers, said plate defining a central aperture of preselected cross section; a central twistable and flexible torsion shaft operably connected at either end to said first and second rotatable plate means, said shaft being smaller in cross section at least in the vicinity of any said idler plate to be spaced therefrom so that said rotating means will be able to twist and flex; and at least one raised indicia carrying belt disposed about said plurality of rollers; means associated with each such belt for indexing said belt to position selected raised indicia thereon for marking; means for inking said selected raised indicia; and means cooperating with said moving material for rotating said rotating means to provide contact between said selected raised indicia and material where supported by said supporting means to mark said indicia on said material.
 2. The invention of claim 1 wherein said plurality of rollers comprises three rollers forming an equilateral triangle in cross section, each of said belts being disposed with the same raised indicia positionable over each apex formed by the rollers.
 3. The invention of claim 2 wherein said belts comprise two sets of independently positionable belts.
 4. The invention of claim 1 further comprising means for controlling the force with which the selected raised indicia contact said material.
 5. An apparatus for marking indicia associated with the shade of material passing therethrough, said apparatus comprising: a housing comprising two spaced side walls; printing means rotatably positioned in operable relation to said housing comprising: an end plate fixedly disposed at each end of a slightly flexible and twistable torsion shaft so that said plates are essentially parallel to and spaced opposite to one another; a plurality of slightly flexible independently rotatable cylinders rotatably mounted at each end onto each of said end plates, parallel to said torsion shaft and spaced equal distances from said shaft and from one another to form an equilateral geometrical figure in cross section; at least one raised indicia carrying belt disposed about said plurality of cylinders, said belt having raised indicia on the outer periphery thereof; means frictionally engaging every such belt with at least one of said cylinders; and means for rotating at least said one cylinder to position at least one selected raised indicia on said belt at an apex of said geometrical figure; means for inking said selected raised indicia; means for moving said material through said housing; and means frictionally engaging said material for rotatably driving said printing means and for bringing said inked raised indicia into contact with said material moving through said housing to print indicia thereon associated with the shade thereof.
 6. The invention of claim 5 wherein there are a plurality of said belts.
 7. The invention of claim 6 wherein there are three parallel cylinders spaced to form a substantially equilateral triangle in cross section and said selected raised indicia are positionable at the three apexes thereof.
 8. The invention of Claim 7 wherein said plurality of belts comprises several pairs comprising a first belt and a second belt, said pairs spaced at predetermined intervals between said end plates.
 9. The invention of claim 8 wherein said cylinder rotating means comprises means for rotating one of said cylinders for simultaneously moving said first belts and means independently operable from said one cylinder rotating means for rotating a second one of said cylinders to simultaneously move said second belts to position said selected raised indicia at said apexes.
 10. The invention of claim 5 wherein said means for frictionally engaging said material comprises a plurality of idler plates spaced along said torsion shaft at predetermined intervals thereon.
 11. The invention of claim 10 wherein every one of said idler plates comprises a central aperture through which said central shaft passes, said aperture being from about 1/8 inch to about 3/8 inch larger in radius than said shaft so that said printer means can somewhat twist about and flex about said central torsion shaft.
 12. The invention of claim 11 wherein said idler plates have replaceable rings of high coefficient of friction resilient material disposed about their peripheries.
 13. The invention of claim 12 wherein said means for frictionally engaging said material is adjustable to accommodate planar materials of different thicknesses and compressibilities by using replaceable rings of preselected thicknesses in accordance therewith. 